ron brown as the chairman of the party. >> rose: in '88? >> from '88 to '92. it's not clear who that would be for the republicans. people talk about jeb bush, i'm not sure he's ready to take that on. there's no other obvious candidate to me right now the big issue now before we get to the elections starting in earnest-- though i agree it starts to some extent on wednesday-- is the fight over the fiscal cliff which will really divide republicans in congress and people like mike huckabee and rick santorum and others who are thinking about running for president next time. people are going to have to choose up sides and if president obama is leading those negotiations it's going to be an obama deal so for a lot of republicans in congress and around the country they're against it no matter what. they don't care what percentage of the vote he got, how big his mandate is, they'll be against it because it will have revenue in it, new revenue, and they'll be against it. >> rose: because it is -- that vote is influenced by how they perceive the battle they are making fo